DragonBoat Beaufort paddles against cancer

Wednesday

Jul 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM

DAVID ROBERTS

A group of Beaufort County cancer survivors and their supporters is bringing a new event to the Beaufort Water Festival this weekend.

The event, known as dragon boat racing, is being put on by the DragonBoat Beaufort race team. DragonBoat Beaufort will not race Saturday, but will instead play host to other teams that will compete at its inaugural Dragon Boat Race Day.

"We're going to have volunteer shirts on. You won't miss us," said Clare Taylor, a DragonBoat Beaufort founder and past president. "We have these crazy dragon shirts, so you'll be able to know who we are."

Dragon boats are 41-foot canoes with brightly-painted dragon heads and tails. Twenty teammates sit two-by-two and paddle in sync to the beat of their drummer, who is seated in the bow facing the team.

The idea of DragonBoat Beaufort was born at the Beaufort International Film Festival in February 2012 after two cancer survivors, Taylor and Mary Ann Thomas, saw the documentary "Awaken the Dragon." Taking place in Charleston, the movie documents a team of cancer survivors and their struggle to compete in local dragon boat racing events, and ultimately achieve complete wellness.

The film went on to win an award for best documentary and the audience choice award, and the lives of friends Taylor and Thomas were changed forever.

Upon leaving the film festival, Taylor and Thomas agreed there needed to be a local dragon boat team, and they took it upon themselves to form it. Within four days, DragonBoat Beaufort already had a board of directors.

"From there, we did fundraising and grew the team from five to over 100 in our first year," said current president and community liaison John Dickerson. "So now, we have a boat, and we have a team that goes and competes around the region. Now we have our very own competition that we're putting on at the festival."

The idea of dragon boat racing at the Beaufort Water Festival has been well-received by the community, as there are already 24 teams registered for Saturday's races. There are currently 86 volunteers from DragonBoat Beaufort, the Marine Corps and other community organizations who have enlisted their help for the all-day event.

DragonBoat Beaufort has seen plenty of success in its limited history, too, bringing home two medals from the Charleston Dragon Boat Festival in May. The 21-person team earned a silver medal for its performance in the qualifying group, and also paddled home a gold medal by posting the best time of any team in the cancer survivor team division.

"It felt like all the time and all the hard work we put in together finally paid off," Taylor said, reflecting on the team's accomplishments at the Charleston festival.

"It's a very powerful thing," Dickerson said of the race team. "It really helps people step away from the challenges that they're faced with, and look forward to something that is positive and exciting to do."

The team raises money for grants that help local cancer patients with needs they are not able to meet.

"Our goal is to reach outside of just helping the people who are paddling," Taylor said of DragonBoat Beaufort's fundraising efforts. "We also want to help local people one by one. We are doing small donations, support by meals and all kinds of little things that we're able to do. We would really like to make it grow bigger and help with research or help with local equipment purchases."

DRAGON BOAT RACE DAY

When: Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday

Where: Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park

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